1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to enhanced electronic communications within a distributed data processing system and in particular to a method and apparatus for expeditiously distributing electronic mail documents within a data processing system having multiple systems and external networks. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to an improved method and apparatus for distributing electronic mail documents from a user within a local network having a designated agent for communication with a particular system to recipients within multiple host systems and/or external networks.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic mail systems are rapidly supplanting traditional paper mail systems in the modern office. Large distributed data processing systems are often utilized to permit the rapid transmittal of electronic documents over large distances between thousands of enrolled system users. By utilizing such systems large amounts of data may be rapidly and accurately distributed throughout the data processing system.
Modern state-of-the-art data processing systems, such as CCITT's X.400, Office Vision VM and PROFS, both by International Business Machines Corporation, may all be utilized to distribute electronic documents to a large number of enrolled users. Such systems may also provide an indication of the delivery or non-delivery of an electronic mail item that may be obtained from the system.
As efficient as these modern systems are a problem exists when a user attempts to transmit an electronic mail document to another user without explicit knowledge of the most efficient routing which should be utilized to deliver the electronic mail documents. This is further complicated in systems such as the OV/2 Local Area Network (LAN) mail distribution systems which permits only a single agent to be defined for each mail user for communication with a particular host system or external network. This effectively limits the number of host gateways to one gateway per user on a Local Area Network. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that a Local Area Network (LAN) may have several gateways to multiple host systems; however, current implementations limit each user within a Local Area Network (LAN) to only one of these gateways for host connectivity. This system functions admirably when a user attempts to communicate with another user who is enrolled within the same host system or external network; however, manual intervention is often necessary to distribute an electronic document to a user who is not enrolled within the same host system or external network as the sending party.
It should therefore be apparent that a need exists for a method and apparatus which will permit a user to effectively utilize multiple host agents or external networks within a Local Area Network (LAN) mail distribution system, thereby providing efficient connectivity to multiple systems for electronic document distribution.